Scripps's Murrelet, Synthliboramphus scrippsi

Scripps's
Murrelet is the northern of two species established by the
split of the former Xantus's Murrelet, the southern being
Guadalupe Murrelet. Scripps's are found, usually not far from shore,
and often in a parent-young pair during their post-breeding dispersal .
On a pelagic outing into the ocean west of
Monterey in October 2011, our boat accidentally separated such a pair.
The two birds stayed
close by the boat calling to each other from opposite sides rather than
swimming away as they normally would, and thus allowed me to get
this closeup profile photo. The dark barring on the flanks
identify the bird as the juvenile of the pair.

Nearly two years later in July 2013, on a pelagic trip out of Half Moon Bay, I got my second chanceat a reasonably closeup photo of one of these small and elusive seabirds, this one an adult.